USC 96
|Row 3 title = Participants |Row 3 info = 51 |Row 4 title = Debuting countries |Row 4 info = |Row 5 title = Returning countries |Row 5 info = , , , , |Row 6 title = Withdrawing countries |Row 6 info = , |Row 7 title = Winner |Row 7 info = Eldar Gasimov "Tell me about love" |Row 8 title = Timeline |Row 8 info = ◄ Rome 95 Baku 97 ► }} Universong 96 was the ninety sixth edition of the Universong Contest, held from February 8th to 27th, 2017 in Tallinn, capital city of Estonia. That was the first edition ever held in this Baltic country, made possible after the winning of Kerli, with the song "Feral hearts", on the previous edition held in Rome, Italy. That also was the second time that the Universong Contest was held in the Baltic region after the USC 53, that was held in Vilnius, Lithuania. 51 countries competed in this edition, and for the first time since USC 88, there was a debuting country: Ghana, which was the seventeenth ever African country to debut in the Universong Contest. Also returning were Portugal (whose last participation was in USC 92 in Santiago de Chile), Iran (whose last entry competed in USC 93 in Tehran, Iran), Finland, Singapore and USA (the three of them competed for the last time in USC 94 in Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg). Considered as a surprise winner. the winning country was Azerbaijan. Eldar Gasimov obtained the first winning for the Caucasic country, as well as their best position ever from USC 45. The song "Tell me about love" got 183 points and six sets of 12 points, while being third with the finalists and first with the non-fonalists with a 16 point margin with the runner-up of that voting. Even though, in total, the margin between winner and runner-up was of 9 points. The runner-up was Croatia, who entered Severina for a record fourteenth time (and fifteenth overall, counting her entry as Bosnia and Herzegovina alongside Boris Novković), got 174 points for her power ballad "Kao", being this her best personal showing after her second place in USC 29 with the song "Brad Pitt", and her winning in USC 18 with the song "Gas gas". In this ocassion, Croatia got two sets of twelve points, being also the third time that this Balkan country gets the runner-up position. She was also runner-up with both the finalists and the non-finalists. The third place went to Norway. Aurora Aksnes was entered for the second time to the Universong Contest, this time with the song "Running with the wolves", with which she improved her personal result from USC 84. She got 148 points, far from the leaders Azerbaijan and Croatia, and four sets of maximum points. Norway also was the winner of the finalists voting. The top 5 was completed with the songs of Andorra ("Duele decir adiós" by Sara Serena, 146 points) and Portugal in its comeback ("Breathe" by Seeb ft. Neev, 132 points in tie with sixth placed Greece). Hosts Estonia could only managed to get 25th place, while Australia broke its record of ten straight finals by not qualifying from the first semifinal. About the city Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, 80 km (50 mi) south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm and west of Saint Petersburg. From the 13th century until 1918 (and briefly during the Nazi occupation of Estonia from 1941 to 1944), the city was known as Reval. Tallinn occupies an area of 159.2 km2 (61.5 sq mi) and has a population of 443,894. Approximately 32% of Estonia's total population lives in Tallinn. Tallinn was founded in 1248, but the earliest human settlements are over 5,000 years old, making it one of the oldest capital cities of Northern Europe. Due to its strategic location, the city became a major trade hub, especially from the 14th to the 16th century, when it grew in importance as part of the Hanseatic League. Tallinn's Old Town is one of the best preserved medieval cities in Europe and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Tallinn is the major political, financial, cultural and educational center of Estonia. Often dubbed the Silicon Valley of Europe, it has the highest number of startups per person in Europe and is a birthplace of many international companies, including Skype. Providing to the global cybersecurity it is the home to the NATO Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence. It is ranked as a global city and has been listed among the top 10 digital cities in the world. The city was a European Capital of Culture for 2011, along with Turku in Finland. Semifinal 1 In this semifinal, the 24 semifinalists plus shall vote in this semifinal. will decide in which semifinal it'll vote. The rest of the countries can vote too, but their votes will be counted as Rest of the World. Semifinal 2 In this semifinal, the 24 semifinalists plus shall vote in this semifinal. will decide in which semifinal it'll vote. The rest of the countries can vote too, but their votes will be counted as Rest of the World. Grand Final Split Results Finalists/Non-Finalists Returning artists Special Awards Bartek Award Best Non-English Award hph01 Award Category:Universong Contest